The primary immediate utilization of this mixer invention will be in the extraction of oil from the oil sands such as found in northern Alberta, Canada, and more specifically, in the Fort McMurray area in northeastern Alberta.
There, the mined oil sands are comprised of coarse sand particles coated by a thin film of connate water, with oil filling the interstices (voids/spaces) and minute particles of clay and mineral (fines) distributed within the water sheaths.
Water, chemicals and energy in the form of mixing are added to the oil sand, resulting in formation of slurry.
In the rudimentary stage, the slurry contains considerable amounts of unbroken lumps of oil sand, too large for the next stage of processing. This situation becomes more difficult in winter months, when frozen lumps aggravate the problem. To manage the situation, the mixing equipment has to be robust enough to be able to disintegrate oversize ore, and form a homogeneous slurry.
From here, the oil sand slurry moves through conditioning and dilution-settling stages until the oil is eventually separated from the solids, thus forming a final product froth.
Transporting and processing of the slurry carrying material excessively abrasive inflicting extreme wear on equipment and at considerable expense in keeping it moving continuously in order to prevent blockage by floating oil or settling of solids.
Cross reference is made to Cymerman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,118 entitled “Pipeline Conditioning Process for Mined Oil-Sand” and the references therein for more detailed background information on the types of equipment and methods sought to be applied in the field.
The present invention provides a hydro-dynamic mixer that has several advantages over presently known mixing devices and processes, such as follows:
1. It is an effective mixer of materials by virtue of the dynamic (twirling, fold over, vortexing, gyrating) intermixing action of contents in motion. It is especially effective in mixing solids matters in various liquids, such as a slurry composed of water, oil and sand;
2. It sustains uniformity of mixing without the risk of a high shear rate, which functions are especially important for mixing of oily substances;
3. The process maintains uniform distribution of elements in motion;
4. The process keeps all elements of the contents in continuous suspension during transport. This is important in dealing with contents consisting of differing densities and properties, in order to prevent stratification;
5. The hydro-dynamic mixer handles abrasive solids with relatively low erosion of the conduit, by virtue of the dissipation of the abrasive action over the total cross-section of the conduit, as opposed to the action of solids traveling on the bottom of a straight pipe;
6. It is a transportation facility for carrying and delivery of the contents in addition to being a mixer; and
7. It can be incorporated into existing transportation system in intervals as a consistency revitalizer of deposited high density materials such as sand and/or floated off aerated substance, to regain uniformity of dispersion.
These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.